Welcome

Welcome to the Haiti Ministry of Mariners Church. We’re excited to share with you all that’s happening in our ministry and in Haiti through our church partner, Communauté de Gloire.

It’s been nine years since the tragic earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and its surroundings on January 10, 2010. Since then, teams of Americans from Mariners have joined with pastors Joseph and Samuel Metelus and the members of their congregations to provide disaster relief and reconstruction aid to the Church of God by Faith (Port-au-Prince) and Communauté de Gloire (Torbek) communities.

From 2010 through 2014, we worked primarily with Pastor Samuel to build the Glory Glory Center in Torbek, Haiti, which serves as home to the 52+ children he took in following the earthquake. Thanks to the generosity of the Mariners congregation, our ministry partners, and the hard work and dedication of our Haitian friends in-country, the Glory Glory Center boasts four dorms, a kitchen, a medical clinic, generator house, open-air dining patio, and a 500-member church.

Today, our ministry continues to walk alongside Pastor Samuel as he works to realize the vision God has given him for a new Haiti — a Haiti transformed by its own empowered youth.

Following Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, we helped once again with disaster relief, supporting Sam as he distributed food and building supplies to those in need throughout southern Haiti. Currently, we are working together to build a premiere private school that will change the lives of thousands of students and their families in Torbeck. Until this school is operational and financially self-sustaining, we continue to fund the children’s home, ensuring that Sam’s kids have all they need to learn and grow and become agents of change in their community/country.

As you click through this website, we encourage you to think about how you may want to join and/or support Pastor Samuel and his team as they embark upon their god-sized vision for changing Haiti from within, one young life at a time.

Pastor Samuel’s Vision for the Future

When Pastor Samuel accepted God’s call to raise 52 (now 54) children after the quake, it was part of an even larger, God-inspired vision to influence the only generation that Samuel believes can change Haiti…its youth. Recognizing that true change can only come from within, Pastor Samuel is committed to creating opportunities for Haiti’s young people to learn and to grow to become effective agents of change. His goal is to empower Haiti’s youth with the ability to think critically and creatively to solve problems, to convince them to remain in Haiti rather than join the Diaspora, and to encourage them to commit to making a difference—economically, socially, spiritually, politically—in their own homes, churches, communities, and—ultimately—their country.

In our culture, parents say, “I don’t have a lot of wealth to leave for you, but I will leave you education.” With education, it’s hard to make it. Without education, it’s impossible to make it.

Samuel Metelus, Pastor & Haitian Children’s Home Director

Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them.

Henry Steele Commager, American Educator & Essayist

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.